Animal Poems

Title: Poetry for Young People: Animal Poems

Author: John Hollander (editor)

Illustrator: Simona Mulazzani

Genre: Poetry

Awards: None

Age Group: 6th-8th grade

This is definitely one of the more serious poem books I have read, and it is all about nature and animals. This book is made up of several authors' work, so the styles and types of poems vary. Whereas some of the other books are humorous, this one is filled with beautiful language. The book begins with a series of haikus describing butterflies and birds that flutter around a tree. A poem about a jelly fish describes it as an amethyst that cannot be caught. Another one tells of a conversation between a squirrel and a great big mountain in which they conclude that they are different but both important. Included in the book is a poem that would be familiar to the reader if they have seen Alice in Wonderland. Then we have a poem about a little spider and its web, which hold immense strength and the ability to connect, which the poet wants to display within himself. This book has a very appropriate ending in which all the creatures sleep peacefully.

Although beautifully written, I would not use this book in my classroom most likely. I do like that it offers the poems of many different poets so you can get a taste of how each one writes. Still, it was pretty challenging for me to read.

I would recommend this book for middle schoolers. It is a picture book, but in my opinion it is at a great difficulty level for that age group, as the poems are pretty short and they explain a bit about the meaning of each poem.

A lesson idea for this book would be to create a class poem book. Since this book is all about animals, each student could pick an animal to write a poem about and illustrate a picture to go along with it. When all the students are done, they could all be combined into a class poetry book!